Mama’s Aunt Pearl Middleton Turner

I always thought that Mama took after her father’s side of the family. Many of the McGallagher women have round faces, round shoulders and, well are round in general, so it was an easy assumption. Several of Mama’s cousins from her mother’s side attended her funeral and then came to the house afterwards to invite Mama’s sister, Peggy, and I to an upcoming family gathering. I haven’t been to anything on Grandma Clemmie’s side of the family since she passed years ago. Grandma was a Middleton from Hawthorne, AL. The gathering was a birthday party for Clyde Turner, Grandma Clemmie’s nephew, the son of her sister Pearl. Clyde just turned 88. I remember Clyde because he was a surveyor by profession. Not only did he subdivide the property here where we live, but he also worked down in this end of the county from time to time and would drop by to see Grandma for lunch or supper occasionally. He’s a dapper man, always seems to be wearing a hat, and tie. Even at 88, he is as sharp as a tack, dapper as ever and has a warm personality. It was good to see him and meet his daughter and family. I do remember meeting his mother when I went with my grandmother to a reunion back in the 80s, but she was very old at the time and I never noticed any resemblance to my mother. At Clyde’s party, however, they had copies of a photograph of Pearl when she was a young woman. When I saw it, my mouth fell open. I’ve had my nose in photo albums since Mama’s death, and the picture of Pearl could have been mistaken for Mama had it not been for the obvious age of the photograph and her attire. Grandma Clemmie was next to the youngest of 15 children. She was born in 1914. Pearl was one of her oldest sisters, so she was probably born in the late 1890s or about 1900. Despite the large age difference, Mama is her niece and the resemblance is unmistakable. I think I even resemble her, which is expected, I guess, since I look so much like Mama. It’s unexpected discoveries like this that fascinate me so much about genealogy.